Let me tell you, the heat is very bad for a Puget Sounder such as myself! Is it over 80? Heck, is it in the 70s? Too hot! :P *Tedium*, as you said, is also high on my low-tolerance list.

Now, I have only been through, uhm, these (http://oldkasperl.kesil.com/been.jpeg) states, and the things I have heard of Kansas and the middle-y farm states haven't been all too thrilling; BUT, if you do have the choice, after you get through Utah (http://mersh.com/vacation/utah/utah04.jpg) and Nevada (http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~choidh/images/nevada.JPG) and that part of northern Cali (which isn't actually that awful, as California goes), head up the Pacific Crest Trail! (http://www.pcta.org/about_trail/overview.asp) It's a mountain-y ("crest") hike, so it's too bad it doesn't have the full variety, but you can always detour. Plus, then you can stop by Bellingham! And my hermitage/hollowed-out tree trunk in the Northern Cascades!